Deuteronomy 11:26-12:12

English Standard Version

^26 (A)“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: ^27 (B)the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, ²⁸ and ^(C)the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, ^(D)to go after other gods that you have not known. ²⁹ And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set ^(E)the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the ^(F)Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside ^(G)the oak^[a] of Moreh? ³¹ For you are ^(H)to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it, ³² you shall be careful ^(I)to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.

The Lord's Chosen Place of Worship

12 ^(J)“These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, ^(K)all the days that you live on the earth. ^2 (L)You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, ^(M)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³ You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces ^(N)their pillars and burn their ^(O)Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and ^(P)destroy their name out of that place. ^4 (Q)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. ⁵ But you shall seek ^(R)the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation^[b] there. There you shall go, ⁶ and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ^(S)your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(T)firstborn of your herd and of your flock. ⁷ And ^(U)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(V)you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, ^(W)everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, ⁹ for you have not as yet come to ^(X)the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ But when ^(Y)you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, ^(Z)and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, ¹¹ then to ^(AA)the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ^(AB)your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord. ¹² And ^(AC)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since ^(AD)he has no portion or inheritance with you.